Police: Taxi driver robbed at gun point

Victim gave men $900 about 8 p.m. in the area of Beach Boulevard and Central Avenue, according to authorities.

June 23, 2010|By Michael Miller, michael.miller@latimes.com

A taxi driver was robbed at gunpoint Sunday night after driving two men from Huntington Beach to Stanton, according to the Orange County Sheriff's Department.

The driver picked up the men, whom officials estimated to be in their mid-20s, in the area of Beach Boulevard and Ellis Avenue about 8 p.m. and drove them to the area of Beach and Central Avenue, said Sgt. Fritz von Rettberg. Once there, one of the men pulled a gun on the driver while the other removed about $900 in cash from his wallet.

The men then fled in a red Toyota waiting at the scene, von Rettberg said. The driver sustained scratches to his face, neck and upper arm, and his shirt was ripped.

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Von Rettberg described the gunman as about 5-foot-6 and 180 pounds with short hair, a long-sleeved white shirt and numerous earrings, and his accomplice as 5-foot-4 and 140 pounds with a black T-shirt and short hair.

The crime, he said, was an unusual one for the region.

"I haven't seen this type of robbery in a while, but universally, it happens quite a bit," von Rettberg said. "A lot of times, taxi cab drivers do get held up. But we haven't had that a lot in Orange County. I haven't seen it a lot in the areas we service."

Von Rettberg added that it was unclear whether the driver had picked up the men on the street or whether they had called for a taxi to pick them up.